Vima Brand & App

Role: Creative Direction

“More moments of greatness” is a lofty promise. But in Vima, we knew we had a chance to help build a brand with the same limitless potential that their strobe eyewear offers athletes and competitive shooters.

Opportunity doesn’t always knock. Sometimes it blinks. Instinct Performance (soon to be renamed Vima) came to us looking for a logo and video to help launch their new game-changing strobe eyewear. They had a great product and big ambitions, but they needed a story—and strategy—big enough to guide their first few years. Big enough to encompass more than just eyewear.

Successful brands start with a solid game plan. Partnering closely with their founders, we launched into an in-depth discovery phase, tapping insights to identify known and potential audiences, examine challenges and opportunities in this growing market and lay the groundwork for the branding and creative to follow.

This initial strategic work was more than just a foundation to build on—it was a launchpad designed to both spur ambitions and illuminate a roadmap for short- and long-term success.

With our strategic platform in place, we crafted a brand story that set Vima apart from competitors, going beyond technical features into more aspirational human territory. We extended this story into naming for both the brand (Vima) and their flagship product (Rev) as well as a visual identity spanning everything from logo to photo guidelines.

We also flexed our industrial design muscles, making additions to the prototypes that not only improved functionality but helped differentiate SKUs. Finally, we got digital, creating a complementary app, which added another dimension to the Vima training experience, and building out a rich site detailing the benefits of and science behind the eyewear—and paying off the brand mission of redefining the limits of human performance.

The Mark Brand & App

Role: Creative DirectionResults: 516,000 square feet of office space leased for $359.5 million over 14 years. Called a "trophy" building by NYTimes. Won a Silver Addy award for mixed reality app.

Developer Kevin Daniels came to us with a story and a dream—the tale of one of Seattle’s oldest churches and the vision of adding an iconicskyscraper to our horizon. So, we came up with a singular vision for the property and set about bringing it to life.

This skyscraper, initially named "5th & Columbia," was going to be built on one of the most densely populated city blocks on the west coast. The problem? Well, the neighborhood practically shut down at 5pm every weekday. It was a place where people worked, but they didn't typically play or live there. So, in order to breathe new life into this neighborhood, we knew we had to create a brand story and identity as multifaceted as the tower itself.

Our story needed to pay homage to the 100-year-old church next door (saved from demolition by the developer) and tout the ultra-hip SLS Seattle hotel inside. On top of that, we had to grab the attention of brokers—a sought-after audience accustomed to being wowed with incredible stories and lavished with over-the-top gifts.

Seattle owes its growth and vitality to a long history of hardworking people striving to make their contribution to the world. We translated that verve into a brand story and encouraged a broad audience to add their own chapter.

Adding an icon to the skyline meant making an impact right from the start. We renamed the property The Mark as a dedication to all those who were—and are—thirsty to make their mark on the world. With a new name, came a new visual identity: a design system that nodded to the neighboring church’s history and embraced the new status as premier destination.

From there, we set out to create marketing experiences for the new brand, including a website and support for events and on-site activations. Then, we created a mixed reality app to give brokers and prospective tenants the chance to experience the building (and its breathtaking views) before construction was complete. Everything was used to position The Mark as the epicenter of new life and community in Midtown Seattle.

Under Armour Recovery Sleepwear Campaign

Role: Creative DirectionResults: Product featured on Holiday gift guides for The Ellen Show, Sports Illustrated, HuffPost, Runners World and more. Increased audience reach and revenue during peak gift-buying season in North America.

Under Armour had a category-breaker on their hands. A piece of wearable technology transcending age, gender and sport. It was up to Tether to help them change the active wear game. Again.

Together with champion footballer Tom Brady, Under Armour developed a luxuriously soft fabric that helps soothe sore muscles and bring on zzz’s. Perfect for sleepwear. Perfect for establishing the brand as a leader in rest and recovery. But first, we had to change the way athletes think about sleep.

No longer eight hours of downtime. But an active part of performance. Not a lazy way to spend a Sunday. But a vital part of every athlete’s routine. It was a story that everyone, including Tom Brady, could get behind. So we brought the words of real athletes and bonafide pajama wearers to the forefront.

Killer customer reviews. Fresh and candid photography. Peer reviewed research papers. We featured the written and visual storytelling shoppers have come to expect from flagship products online.

Then we took it one step farther, reaching editors at major magazines with an unexpected delivery. An introduction to Under Armour’s stance on sleep, plus a pair of Athlete Recovery Sleepwear for them to try—and ultimately recommend on their holiday gift lists.

Microsoft Story Labs: Inside Building 87

Role: Creative DirectionResults: 4 Addy awards, FWA Site of the Day, AWWWARD, national media coverage including a mention on Saturday Night Live

Hidden away in Redmond at one of the many buildings on the Microsoft campus is a place where model makers, hardware engineers, inventors, and acoustic wizards merge passion with precision.

Plenty of companies have secret R&D labs where they dream up the future, but even in the high-pressure world of technology, Building 87 is unique. Our goal? Give the world a sneak peak at the toys, tools, and brains creating the future, in a mind-bending WebGL microsite experience.

Working closely with the featured teams—each area received its own room anchored by long-form video—shot, edited and produced by our studio. Interactive widgets on the walls call out the most interesting human-machine interactions being investigated in Building 87, giving the audience an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse at the technology of tomorrow.

Microsoft Recruiting Campaign

Role: Creative DirectionResults: Strategic reinvention of Microsoft's employment mission and cultural attributes. Global distribution of a suite of tools for recruiters from North America to India and beyond.

The challenge? Everybody thinks they know Microsoft. The previous CEO. A reputation for being less-than-open to change. The perception of being less innovative than their competitors. There was all of that. But everybody loves a good comeback story.

When cultivating cred, you just can’t tell nobody nothing no more. So we wanted to show candidates that the new, more open-minded culture is not just something we talk about, it’s something that can be seen in the actions of current employees. The best and brightest build on the workof others. They celebrate their successes, but never stop there. In this recruitment campaign, we invited candidates to do exactly that at Microsoft.

In order to attract the best and brightest, we had to address several needs and provide recruiters as well as hiring managers with tools to get the word out. We strategized and designed everything from a new story hub that allows recruiters to begin a steady rhythm of published content that exemplifies the mission and culture of Microsoft—to materials that engage students at job fairs, and even a concierge app for candidates during interview day.

Microsoft Story Labs

Before beginning work on these projects, we had enjoyed nearly a decade of partnership with Microsoft, and we had seen their mission evolve from simplicity to complexity and back again. An evolution that’s kept us busy—rallying thought leaders, instigating dangerous ideas and telling storiesforconsumers and employment candidates alike.

When it was time to take these stories public—with digital properties devoted to innovation labs, design rebels and more—we once again brought pen and pixel to the table. This time for an external audience of curious consumers and news media. We partnered with brand content engine Microsoft Story Labs, exploring the most groundbreaking work through interactive experiences and immersive microsites.

BMW Story of 3 Ad

To document the engineering legacy of the 3 Series, we partnered up with BMW and GSD&M—distilling 34 years of history into a 30-second ad. The big idea here is that thoughtful engineering is more than an end unto itself. It’s a catalyst for astounding courage on the racetrack, inspiration for the arts and a distinct culture for generations of gutsy drivers.

When planning our execution, I led the team through everything from a live action shoot—mimicking cinematography of the 70’s and 80’s—to scrappy stop-motion animations of vintage owners manuals.

MLB Network Identity

Role: Concept, Design

As a kid, I was a fan of the Baltimore Orioles. Ripkin was my hero, and Eddie Murray had an afro that wouldn’t quit. For this project, I poured my childhood love for the game into branding baseball’s first television network.

More than scoreboards and stats, the MLB Network brand is all about fanaticism. The fanaticism of the crowd. The enduring fanatics who train tirelessly before taking to the field. Being a fan myself, I wanted to trace the mystical path of the perfect pitch, burn the logo onto the bats, and sear the brand into the collective conscience of the American people.

Since the brand would span broadcast and digital—I decided that the on-air and online design system should be one and the same, with a color pallete that changes to reflect day or night games.

Oregon Lottery Ad

Role: Creative Direction, Animation

It was news to me that so much of the OR Lotto's money went back into public projects. It made me want to show people a collaborative Oregon–one that's larger than life. To get the idea approved, I created a mood edit using footage of large scale stop motion animations. We pitched it to the ad agency as the tip of the iceberg. The mood edit wasn't much, but it was enough to get them excited about the concept.

Once the idea was approved, I led a designer in creating sketches of what the sets would look like and how we would transition from one scene to the next. Then, our heroic art-department built the set and we captured the process in time-lapse over the course of 2 days.

Vintage App Stories

Role: Creative direction, design, compositing

This product demo project started with a simple idea. What if the people of the ’50s and ’70s were given the chance to enhance their lives with technology that exists today? Why not go back in time and give them something to take it up a notch?

We went out to LA for a week of production. We stayed on our toes, since each day featured a different cast and script. We also worked closely with art department, ensuring consistency and functionality of the design system throughout the films.

This project was canceled in the middle of post-production due to unforeseen challenges on the client side. Since I enjoyed working on these little films, I removed branding and cleared it with said client so others could see them.

Sundance Festival Bumper

I led a team to create one of four festival bumpers that appeared before each film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The theme of the festival that year was “fire.” We were given a strategic brief from AdamsMorioka and instructions to engage the audience and remind them of something important about filmmaking.

For this piece, we envisioned the heart as a fiery furnace—the place where creativity comes from. Our inspiration came from personal photo journeys through abandoned factories and the bio-mechanical illustrations of Fritz Kahn. With a small team, we built an immersive-yet-efficient environment in CG and filled that factory with workers—a role performed by only one actor.

Microsoft Future Vision Stories

Role: Design, animation, compositing

Tech companies like Microsoft sometimes have to use a crystal ball to cast vision for future products. Projects like these often began with their team blowing our minds with some of their future plans. Then we would come up with a screenplay that tells an entertaining story featuring empowering new paradigms of user experience. Another way of saying this is that all of the characters would be able to achieve more—in their lives and their work.

Nike Hong Kong Installation

Role: Creative Direction, Design, Animation

Nike asked us to make a looping video for them to install in Hong Kong. The brief was as simple as this: “create animated wallpaper that’s engaging without being too distracting.” Other than that, we were given a bunch of old photos from their archive.

Looking through the archive, a thought occurred to us: athletes don’t just appear out of nowhere, destined for greatness. They’re formed by their training and experiences. Admittedly, this idea came to us by thinking and exploring with animation.

I led the team to dive into this idea about the formation of athletes—piece-by-piece—almost as if they were a part of a giant wheat paste poster. To that end, we came up with unique ways to track motion in order to make the elements look like they’re being assembled by hand.

BECU Ads

Role: Creative directionParent Campaign Results: The bank added over 80,000 new members over the course of the campaign

A series of six ads I directed for a credit union that was willing to take a slightly different approach to bank marketing. We partnered with BECU and DNA to capture the distinct culture of the Puget Sound region, charm and blemishes included—along with BECU’s promise at the time, to “turn the financial world right side up.”

The people of the region include software engineers, bike messengers, anarchists, nuns, and school principals. Our idea was to show how different sorts of people come together to make a place that is magical. BECU cares about it all, so we showed it all.

The Path to 9/11 Maintitle

Living on the East Coast in 2001, I remember the morning of 9/11 being utterly surreal. The weather was ideal; it was the type of morning that made me feel good about starting an “ordinary” day. For this sequence, we wanted to linger on that feeling, but disrupt it with a growing awareness of the types of surveillance and intelligence gathering that went into the 9/11 commission report.

We shot this on a shoestring budget, and I directed some of the scenes while shooting B-roll footage on an old Bolex 16mm camera. This project was like a full contact sport: we took a documentary approach to filming and then I directed a team of animators and a VFX artist to finish it up.

Jade Empire Ad

Role: Design, animation, compositingRecognition: 2006 Telly Award

By the time we completed this 30-second ad project, we had the team at BioWare wishing the game looked more like the ad. The idea was to solidify the story of the game in myth. This led us to imagine a combative and magical world made of Sumi ink.

Even though the technology at the time was advanced enough to do all of the ink effects in CG, I opted to film the majority of them in live action. This way, we could transcend the look of standard in-game renderings. As a result, I had to come up a unique way to animate and composite everything together with the renders coming from our CG team.

Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital Maintitle

My involvement in this project was heavily influenced by a proclivity for exploring abandoned hospitals as a teenager. I've always been curious about the way plant life seemed to invade the buildings when they had been left alone for years. The walls would be infiltrated by the outside world, and I imagined that it transformed the buildings into a new sort of residence–where only stories could survive.

We were given permission from Jerry Uelsmann to use his photomontages as a starting point for some of the scenes.